How Bad is it in California?

An article brought to my attention by a friend–who, like half a dozen Californians with whom I’ve spoken over the last couple of days, is looking for property in Nevada or Texas:

John Smithton, Sacramento

TimesUpdated 12:19 p.m., Thursday, November 8, 2012LOS ANGELES – Democrats after gaining a two-thirds majority in both theCalifornia Assembly and Senate following Tuesday’s election, will bebringing several new laws forward, all without the need for Republicanvotes.

The most striking of these is a bill which would restrict wealthy Californiawage earners from leaving the state without facing a large penaltyassessment on their real estate and financial assets….

“It’s time to start anew and to live within our means but at the same timeinvest in the cornerstone of our future and of our economy. We need thosefortunate enough with higher incomes to continue paying their fair share,and if that means making them pay dearly if they decide to leave our stateso be it,” Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said ina telephone interview….

State Democrats have also proposed forming a new branch of the state police,to be known as the “STASI” or “State Team Action to Stem Income” which wouldbe staffed with volunteers from every community, monitoring residentscontemplating moving out of the state. The staffers would report onneighbors and family members with moving plans or otherwise actingsuspiciously….

UPDATE: Searching online, I’m unable to find the original, so I’m to suppose the article a hoax. If so, I’m relieved. On the other hand, what does it say about the present political climate here in the Golden State that neither I nor the friend who sent this to me feels–well, entirely sure?

If any among the Ricochetti can figure it out one way or the other–this thing seems to be floating around cyberspace, but, again, I’m unable to find the original–I’d be grateful.

UPDATE on my UPDATE: Fool that I am, I only just now remembered that the paper in Sacramento isn’t the Times but the Bee. John Smithton? No such journalist seems to exist. This is a hoax. And, for about ten minutes, yours truly fell for it.

In the 1980s and early 1990s the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB—state income tax enforcers) would routinely go after executives who left California to take a job in a low- or no-tax state. They claimed that the individual had never “broken domicile” and still owed income tax to California, since obviously he or she would eventually return to California.

This happened to me when I left California to take a job in Switzerland in 1991. I ended up spending US$36,000 in legal and accounting fees over three years and having to disclose essentially all of my private financial information (bank and investment statements, credit card bills, travel records, utility bills, etc., etc.–the whole pile was about 8 cm thick) over those years. At the end of this, I “won”: California “suspended” the investigation, reserving the right to go after me again. I’ve heard nothing from them since.

At the outset, my lawyer said that they had never lost a case like this, but that many people in this situation ended up making a one-off cash settlement to make the FTB go away rather than fight—classic shakedown.

That fake article is plausiblr because we’re talking about California. Some aparatchik in Sacramento gets a whiff of this, and you’ll see a bill like this someday. Though they probably won’t call it the STASI.

Peter Robinson: State Democrats have also proposed forming a new branch of the state police,

to be known as the “STASI” or “State Team Action to Stem Income” which would be staffed with volunteers from every community, monitoring residents contemplating moving out of the state. The staffers would report on neighbors and family members with moving plans or otherwise actingsuspiciously….

· 1 minute ago

Peter, I never know when you are just kidding. Tell me this is a joke.

Peter Robinson: State Democrats have also proposed forming a new branch of the state police,

to be known as the “STASI” or “State Team Action to Stem Income” which would be staffed with volunteers from every community, monitoring residents contemplating moving out of the state. The staffers would report on neighbors and family members with moving plans or otherwise actingsuspiciously….

· 1 minute ago

Peter, I never know when you are just kidding. Tell me this is a joke. · 4 minutes ago

It is a joke.

I can only explain that the election reduced me to a jelly-like state of gullibility.

In other news, Peter has been contacted by a representative of a Nigerian prince who needs a bank account to transfer a considerable fortune out of his country, in exchange for sharing a third of said fortune. Will he keep this opportunity to himself, or be sharing with all of us the chance to be of assistance to (naturally conservative) Nigerian royalty?

Sumomitch: In other news, Peter has been contacted by a representative of a Nigerian prince who needs a bank account to transfer a considerable fortune out of his country, in exchange for sharing a third of said fortune. Will he keep this opportunity to himself, or be sharing with all of us the chance to be of assistance to (naturally conservative) Nigerian royalty? · 9 minutes ago

Edited 9 minutes ago

In the words of Jack Benny–who knew I’d be able to tie the two posts together?–”Now, cut that out!”

Taxpayers in San Francisco, California will now pay for “gender-switching,” transgender surgeries to “help ease the mental anguish of people who feel they are trapped in bodies of the wrong gender.”

If one considers that there are about 4 million or so people in California who reliably vote Republican(2010 & 2012) I think what other red states should do is implement a refugee program for beleaguered(& outnumbered) conservatives in California.